There are 186 spaces available for permit parking in the Italian Village/Short North
neighborhoods. But the city has issued more than 1,200 permit stickers and visitor hangtags for the
area.

To begin to fix this problem, a working group has recommended a moratorium on new parking-permit
zones that would take effect on Sept. 16.

Right now, there are as many as 11 inquiries for new permit-parking areas in the pipeline,
according to Randy Bowman, mobility options division administrator for the Columbus Public Service
Department. Working-group members said they don’t want to add to a hodgepodge of parking
restrictions in different permit areas across the neighborhood.

Those 11 inquiries still would be considered as City Council considers the moratorium, Bowman
said.

In the meantime, the working group is trying to find a solution for the Italian Village area
east of High Street.

John Angelo, a member of the working group and former director of the Short North Alliance, said
understanding the number of permits in the area is important.

“How many truly active permits are we facing, and what do we need to get that number down to?”
he said.

The city had earlier reported that it had issued 728 permits, including 147 for businesses.
However, those were just the “sticker” permits for businesses and residents. Visitor hangtags added
to the number. In all, 1,281 permits and hangtags were issued from September 2011 through January
of this year.

Mark Fazzina, an Italian Village resident and member of the working group, said the reality is
that there are too many permits and not enough spaces.

“The bigger problem is how did the city let this get away from them?” Fazzina said.